The words you speak tend to reflect your beliefs about yourself, and that makes the words that come out of your mouth important indicators of your state of self. But can your words shape your reality too, simply through the power of being spoken?

It’s an interesting question…

A few years ago I went to one of the last ever live workshops that Dr Wayne Dyer presented before he passed away later that year. It was held on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Maui, just near where Wayne lived. The workshop represented the culmination of his life’s work on personal and spiritual development. And the entire workshop was based around the words “I am…”

See, Wayne had come to the conclusion that the most important words you ever speak are the words that follow “I am…”

When we say “I am…” the words that come after that are often the words we use to express our identity.

Like “I am Australian” or “I am an engineer” or “I am an artist.”

Why is that important?

Dr Dyer felt that we could shape our reality by being conscious and careful about how we identify ourselves.

I had this experience recently.

My friend Susan Garrett (I wrote about her in previous blog post here) is a world champion dog agility handler and trainer. Susan recently said something that really struck home with me. She said “I’m careful about where I hang my identity. I don’t hang my identity on being a championship level agility handler, or on winning trophies, because maybe my dogs will get sick or maybe something will prevent me from winning. Even though I often win championships, I’m okay if I don’t because that’s not where I hang my identity or get my sense of being successful in life.”

For some reason I was ripe for this to really land with me.

I realised that my feeling of being successful in my life had been dwindling for a while. And when Susan said that, all of a sudden I knew exactly why.

For years I have strongly identified with being an entrepreneur and a business leader. But in recent years I’ve been heading in directions that are less about running businesses and teams, and more about sharing my message, coaching people (my passion projects) and investing in order to grow my wealth.

Even though other people would look at my life and call it successful, I was hanging onto an identity that didn’t quite fit me or my life anymore. So it was hard for me to really feel successful while I was still wearing that old identity.

In the moment I shifted my identity (which was pretty instantaneous) from “I am a business leader” to “I am a thought leader” and “I am an investor” I immediately felt a renewed sense of being successful in my life…

It felt congruent because I love to invest in myself through constant learning. I also love to invest in assets to grow my wealth, because that provides me with freedom and choice in my life. And I love to share my thoughts and coach people in order to help them grow and reach their full potential. So I was aligning my identity with things that I felt really good about and that bring me joy.

This brought a real clarity to my decision making processes. Ever since I made this identity shift a few months ago, my decisions have been so much simpler and quicker to make. Because I know who I am in this moment, and knowing who I am helps me to be much clearer about what fits with my current identity and what doesn’t.

So, 3 years after attending that workshop with Dr Wayne Dyer in Maui, I think I finally understand what he was talking about. What he was teaching is true: the words that we use to follow the statement “I am…” are some of the most important words of all.

I’m so grateful to Wayne (and Susan!) for this amazing lesson.

As always, let me know in the comments if this post helped you in any way.

We have just had an amazing holiday in Adelaide - at Womadelaide, cycling and sipping wine in the Clare Valley and walking in Glenelg.... and I can see why New York Times voted Adelaide as a desired destination!

Here is some commentary of what the property gurus say about buying in Adelaide .....

Definitely worth more research!

Adelaide property market set for significant price growth in 2018

AFTER years of slow and steady value growth, Adelaide’s property market is set to switch up a gear. Pundits expect price growths of up to 9 per cent, up 4 per cent to this year, with middle and low-market suburbs the star performers.

His claims are based on data published in the Hotspotting’s Spring 2017 Price Predictor Index, which ranks Adelaide ahead of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in terms of the number of growth suburbs.

“What the report figures show is that Sydney and Brisbane have passed their peak and that Adelaide has more upside (for investors),” Mr Ryder said.

“Historically, Adelaide has been a very steady market without high peaks as other cities have had.

Properties like this three-bedroom home at 19A Dwyer Road, Oaklands Park have been popular amongst middle-market buyers. The property is for sale through Toop&Toop and has a price guide of $470,000 – $510,000.

“But there’s prospect for that to improve with things in the pipeline for South Australia, such as the navy vessel project, which will revive the resource sector and that will flow back into the Adelaide property market.

“As such, we will see better price growth … we will see 7 or 8 or 9 per cent in Adelaide next year, which is a pretty healthy growth.”

Suburbs to watch include those within the Marion council area, a middle-market area, which now has nine suburbs with continuous price growth.

Oaklands Park, with a median price of $470,000, was the area’s star performer, after sales lifted from 18 to 41 in the past six quarters.

Another middle-market area, the Charles Sturt council area, also ranked high in the report with growth suburbs including Findon, Grange and Semaphore Park.

On the upper scale, North Adelaide, Walkerville, Semaphore, Prospect, Belair, Woodville South, Fullarton, Somerton Park, Gawler East, Crafers, Craigmore and Elizabeth Park were the city’s top performers, recording double-digit growth in their median house prices in the past 12 months.

North Adelaide has been one of 12 upper-market suburbs to record a double-digit growth in median house prices in the past 12 months. 10 Molesworth St, North Adelaide, on the market for $1.45 million, is one of the prestige homes on offer in the sought after suburb.

Real Estate Institute of South Australia (REISA) CEO Greg Troughton said Adelaide was well overdue for major price growth.

“We are well overdue for that one-year burst of bigger than average median house price growth so I would not be surprised (by the prediction),” he said.

“It’s always a good vote of confidence when you see rock solid growth with a double burst of energy median.

“The remarkable value for money one gets here in SA, dollar for dollar is outstanding. People interstate see that value, especially against that double digit growth both Sydney and Melbourne have now seen for several years.

“Having said that, I hope that despite the predicted growth that Adelaide and SA remains the most affordable mainland state.”

The three in front are old & sick, they walk in front to set the pace of the running group lest they get left behind.

The next five are the strongest & best, they are tasked to protect the front side if there is an attack. The pack in the middle are always protected from any attack.

The five behind them are also among the strongest & best; they are tasked to protect the back side if there is an attack.

The last one is the LEADER. He ensures that no one is left behind. He keeps the pack unified and on the same path. He is always ready to run in any direction to protect & serves as the 'bodyguard' to the entire group.

Just in case anyone wanted to know what it really means to be a leader. It's not about being out front. It means taking care of the team.

This little-known habit separates successful people from the rest, according to science.

It’s not goal setting

When it comes to goal-achievement and success, most people tend to focus on the next station in life. While I’m a huge proponent of goal-setting and a forward-facing outlook, this perspective tends to get warped; leading to an unhappy disposition, a negative attitude, and less confidence.

On their quest for success, most people tend to become immediately unhappy with their current situation, and they tend to focus on their failures, rather than being positive and confident.

Ultra-successful people, on the other hand, utilize a science-backed method to remain at top performance levels.

It’s about being grateful

Being in a grateful state gives you deeper meaning and value to everything that occurs in your life. Furthermore, gratitude leads you to a generally happier disposition which impacts the way you perform. This is also supported by science — psychology research found that gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with an individual’s greater happiness.

Therefore, gratitude increases your chances to succeed as you strive to become better at what you do.

As Oprah Winfrey put it: “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

On the other hand, if you fail to be thankful, you have the tendency to maintain a negative mindset, which will deeply hamper your growth.

Strategies to become more grateful

Create a Gratitude List

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges this trait as an important aspect of his success. In fact, during Facebook’s 10th year anniversary, he revealed how he challenged himself to write a thank you note each day because he believes it is a way to make things better.

It may be a stretch to hand each person a thank you note but you can start by habitually writing down things that you feel grateful for. It could be a mix of people, material things, achievements, etc. that inspired you to work harder for your goals. Like Oprah Winfrey, you could go back to your list and see how much you have to be thankful for even in moments when you feel discouraged.

Remember Your Failures

While it is in our nature to fear failure, we can turn it around by using it as a tool to be more grateful in life. When we remember our hardships, the challenges we faced, or the moments we were defeated, we think about how far we have come, and all the help we received along the way.

By thinking about how you failed, it teaches you humility and drives you to go back to the core reasons on why you have been chasing success. It’s important to learn from past mistakes and of course move on from it.

“99% of success is built on failure.” — Charles Kettering, Founder of Delco

Control Your Thoughts

Sometimes, our brain manipulates us to think about the ‘what ifs’ or the ‘what could have been’ scenarios. Dwelling on these thoughts will leave you feeling sorry about yourself which could be sabotage your productivity.

Train your mind to think highly of your goals in life. Prioritize it in all of your decision makings and try to deviate from negativity by staying optismistic.

Forget About Self-Entitlement

While it is good to have ample trust in your skills and abilities, having too much of it, is counterproductive. If you don’t see the good in other people anymore, pause for a while and process your thoughts.

If you want to be successful, you need help from people around you. Their words of encouragement, any form of support, and appreciation are essential to your progress. Rather than attributing milestones to your own doing, think of how you can foster collaboration in your workplace.

Even legendary investor Warren Buffett displayed how he valued others in pursuit of success. In his letter to Berkshire-Hathaway shareholders, he expressed his gratitude by acknowledging that he indeed was a very fortunate man because he was surrounded by excellent and highly-talented people.

Avoid Complaining

“A person who is happy is not happy because everything is right in his life, he is happy because his attitude towards everything in his life is right.” — Sundar Pichai, Google Inc. CEO

Complaining could probably be the number one enemy of gratitude. It is a blind spot that stops you from seeing the good side of things. It slows you down when you are trying to work on something because instead of focusing on what you want to achieve, you fixate on other unnecessary factors.

It takes constant practice to fully eliminate complaining into your system. But once you lessen it, you will feel more energized to go and reach your next milestone. Find the courage to accept that you will not always be in a perfect situation but make the most out of it, and learn as much as you can for every experience.

Embrace Your Flaws

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” — Napoleon Hill

Even if it sounds cliché, you have to remember that nobody is perfect. Your flaws make you unique and therefore could make you stand-out.

Instead of stressing out about your weaknesses, challenge yourself how you could become a better person by improving on your strengths. Acknowledge the fact that your flaws are part of your being so you have to live with it without harming your own self-esteem.

It takes effort to see the good in everything, but putting it into practice will bring you contentment and happiness. Once you remain in a positive state, you will then become thankful for all your achievements. And eventually, you will feel more inspired to give your 100% in all you do. Gratitude is the secret into transforming your day into a victorious one resulting to more opportunities for you to advance in life.

7. “It is not what we get, but who we become, what we contribute, that gives meaning to our lives.” (IK - it’s not about the situation -it’s about how we relate to the situation)

8. “The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”

10. “I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” (IK - Failing is the journey to success)

11. “Lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.”

12. “Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.”

13. “Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or that can literally save their lives.”